03-17-2018, 05:01 AM
Here a good explanation:
https://www.androidauthority.com/project-treble-818225/
To solve the hardware abstraction layer issue, Android O formalized the division between hardware sub systems like audio or camera, and their clients on the software side. These new formal divisions specify the interface between a HAL and its users. There are now around 60 formal interfaces for various hardware components, known as HIDLs.
The goal of a HIDL is to allow the framework to be replaced without having to rebuild HALs. HALs will be built by vendors or SoC makers and put in a /vendor partition on the device, enabling the framework, in its own partition, to be replaced with an over-the-air update (OTA) without recompiling the HALs.
Equally as important, Linux kernel long term support has recently been extended from 2 to 6 years for Project Treble. This means that major fixes to the kernel are no longer missed over a device’s longer term life cycle.
I think, important is also the long term support for the linux kernel:
https://www.xda-developers.com/linux-ker...rt-google/
With the extended long-term support kernel life, OEMs will no longer have to backport security patches from newer versions of the Linux kernel into the kernel version that they use on their devices. Instead, the patches will still be available for their devices
it is still a fantastic move which will help substantially both with Android’s current security update issues and with providing support for IoT devices for years to come. Making it easier to continue to support devices will make manufacturers more likely to extend support lives even further. It also is a key change for the ROM development scene, as it will allow developers to provide updates for older devices on legacy versions of Android with secure kernel versions for longer than before.
IoT devices often use legacy hardware for extended lifecycles (far longer than what we typically see with phones) and have limited budgets for software support, which currently results in an absolute mess of security bugs and unpatched devices that are constantly on and have full network access. It may not be possible to get these devices to be consistently updated to new kernel versions in the near future, across all manufacturers, but simplifying the work to “just” applying the latest patch for the kernel version that they are on may be enough to convince some companies to provide that basic level of ongoing security for their devices.
On GNU/Linux it is different, on android a security patch is in fact an upgrade. For example lineageos, there you have to download an entire image to apply the next security patch level. On GNU/Linux you have only update some packages to have the security fixes. Treble covers not only an upgrade from one android version to another but also upgrading images from the same android version. Security patches covers not only the android framework, it covers also the kernel.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/project...h-t3742677
I am not a developer, so perhaps i don't understand all, but for what i understand, treble is not only for upgrading from one android version to another but also for upgrading from one android image to another in the same android version. I missunderstand something?
https://www.androidauthority.com/project-treble-818225/
To solve the hardware abstraction layer issue, Android O formalized the division between hardware sub systems like audio or camera, and their clients on the software side. These new formal divisions specify the interface between a HAL and its users. There are now around 60 formal interfaces for various hardware components, known as HIDLs.
The goal of a HIDL is to allow the framework to be replaced without having to rebuild HALs. HALs will be built by vendors or SoC makers and put in a /vendor partition on the device, enabling the framework, in its own partition, to be replaced with an over-the-air update (OTA) without recompiling the HALs.
Equally as important, Linux kernel long term support has recently been extended from 2 to 6 years for Project Treble. This means that major fixes to the kernel are no longer missed over a device’s longer term life cycle.
I think, important is also the long term support for the linux kernel:
https://www.xda-developers.com/linux-ker...rt-google/
With the extended long-term support kernel life, OEMs will no longer have to backport security patches from newer versions of the Linux kernel into the kernel version that they use on their devices. Instead, the patches will still be available for their devices
it is still a fantastic move which will help substantially both with Android’s current security update issues and with providing support for IoT devices for years to come. Making it easier to continue to support devices will make manufacturers more likely to extend support lives even further. It also is a key change for the ROM development scene, as it will allow developers to provide updates for older devices on legacy versions of Android with secure kernel versions for longer than before.
IoT devices often use legacy hardware for extended lifecycles (far longer than what we typically see with phones) and have limited budgets for software support, which currently results in an absolute mess of security bugs and unpatched devices that are constantly on and have full network access. It may not be possible to get these devices to be consistently updated to new kernel versions in the near future, across all manufacturers, but simplifying the work to “just” applying the latest patch for the kernel version that they are on may be enough to convince some companies to provide that basic level of ongoing security for their devices.
On GNU/Linux it is different, on android a security patch is in fact an upgrade. For example lineageos, there you have to download an entire image to apply the next security patch level. On GNU/Linux you have only update some packages to have the security fixes. Treble covers not only an upgrade from one android version to another but also upgrading images from the same android version. Security patches covers not only the android framework, it covers also the kernel.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/project...h-t3742677
I am not a developer, so perhaps i don't understand all, but for what i understand, treble is not only for upgrading from one android version to another but also for upgrading from one android image to another in the same android version. I missunderstand something?
